Page 38 of Girls Night
Don’t Tell Me No – Honey Chanel
Chapter One
Holding the suitcase that held her belongings, her hand trembled. "Are you sure there’s no other way?" Raya asked her husband of five years, Brandon, who was standing in the doorway. Her husband worked as an Executive Financial Officer—well, used to work—for Hamilton Technologies, until he was caught embezzling a couple million dollars from the company.
And she was deemed an accomplice.
Apparently, she knew what her thief of a husband had been doing. It was guilty by association.
She'd met him when she was nineteen years old, and his smooth-talking, frat boy persona had captivated her. They'd dated all through college and got married once they had graduated.
It could have been called a fairy tale courting.
Raya came from an average blue-collared family. Her parents, Nick and Lorna Martinez, had worked hard to put her through college. Brandon, on the other hand, came from a well-off family, and got into college on a lacrosse scholarship.
It was almost like fate had played a part in their meeting. They didn't run in the same crowds. She wasn't into sports much. She was an English major, while he was in finance.
She'd only attended the party at his fraternity house because her roommate had been dating a member.
She remembered the night they'd met. He had been dressed in jeans and a blue cotton T-shirt that highlighted his muscular physique, while also enhancing his eyes. He'd offered to get her a drink, and she had been tongue-tied from the moment he'd set his sights on her.
A jock and frat boy were interested in her, a mousy girl with big brown eyes and dark hair.
She wasn't some girl who chased after the jocks.
She was known to hang out in the library, writing, or with her nose deep in a book.
One drink that night had cascaded into a full-on romance.
They had been inseparable after that.
So, to hear that her husband had stolen millions of dollars from his employer was quite baffling.
Raya thought she knew him.
This was quite out of character for him.
He sighed."If there was, don't you think I would have done it by now?"
"How about you shouldn’t have taken money that wasn't yours to begin with!" she cried out, running a hand through her dark hair as she walked over to the window of their bedroom.
The beautifully landscaped yard was a prized possession of hers. She had taken great care in ensuring their yard was attractive and welcoming.
Now, staring out at the property, a sour taste appeared in her mouth.
It was created from stolen money.
While her husband was climbing the ranks at Hamilton Technologies, she had had a blossoming writing career.
She was a best-selling writer who wrote mystery and suspense novels, with a very strong following. Alone, she could easily support the two of them comfortably, but Brandon had wanted to be the breadwinner.
They had no children. They had wanted to wait until around thirty to do so, with the thought of enjoying each other and becoming well-established before expanding their family.
"Look, I'm sorry. This is the only way she wouldn't press charges and have me arrested. We'd lose everything we have." He came to stand behind her, and she stiffened at the sensation of his hands resting on her shoulders.
Her vision blurred with unshed tears.Raya had never been so pissed in her life.
"So, you get to avoid jail while I have to live as a woman's sex slave?" She spun around and glared up at him, wiping the tears from her cheeks.
